Wednesday, December 29, 2010

My blog has been real quiet lately because of all the high speed low drag shenanigans around my place, but we have not been idle. In fact, we have played a lot of games over the break so far. I may go back and do some full batreps later, but in the meantime here is just a smattering of what we've been playing. Hopefully this will get some of you off yer butts and to the game table!

Thursday, December 23, 2010

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

I just survived a 4 day gaming marathon and I feel great! The only bad thing is I have completely lost track of what is going on around my favorite web hangouts and am really behind on batreps. Here is the second patrol mission that Justo and I played a while back. This is Song of Drums and Shakos and this is a good example of what may happen with a single, well placed shot!

Thursday, December 16, 2010

I'm way behind on my batreps due to real life (boo hiss) but I have still been managing to get in some limited playing. Last Sunday, Justo and I played a couple of games of SDS with my new 28mm miniatures from Alban. I will be reviewing them in detail as soon as possible. When we set up a game we just roll some dice to decide the situation and sometimes you just get screwed. This was one of those times but a quite fun little game. The game after this I fared a bit better and I will post that later. SDS is really turning out to be a very good game for quick pick up battles. I highly recommend it. Justo was the Frogs and I was the hapless Grasshoppers).

Saturday, December 11, 2010

King of the Ring is a brilliant little game by Chien Sauvage. His blog is http://bobouest.canalblog.com/ and I've discovered he has a lot of other good stuff there as well that can be enjoyed with the help of an online translator if your French is not up to the task. Mike West brought this ingenious little home made ring to Mag Con 2 and this was the first I heard of this game. It was wildly popular because it is very fun and fast playing.
Each player has a miniature avatar and the movement and strikes are driven by drawing cards from a regular card deck. I think it was two combined decks. The cards you hold in your hand dictate your available options. Anyway, I have been getting bombarded with emails about an English version of the rules so I contacted Chien and he graciously has allowed me to post them. So go build yourself a ring and have fun with your friends and family! I have posted the rules after these snapshots from the convention. This the sheet we used, if there are any questions about it we will have to translate Chien's pages.

At Start of Game

Game starts with everyone being dealt 5 cards face down

Each player starts with ten beads

The players figures start in one of the four corners

Aces are lowest card. Jokers can replace any card and in case of a fight are the best card in the game. However, they can still be parried by the other joker.

Movement

Move cards are the black suits, Spades & Clubs

ØClubs move left, right, up and down

ØSpades move on the diagonals

The card numbers have no impact in movement

Combat

Fighting cards are the red suits, Hearts & Diamonds

ØDiamonds fight to the left, right, up and down

ØHearts fight on the diagonal

Attacker plays card first and the Defender MAY parry with a higher card

If the attacker/winner is on the center square they do double damage, two beads

You can attack to "push" instead to damage in which case you move the victim one square back (you do not follow) if there is room. This can be resisted (same as a parry). Red cards, of course.

If you fail to parry an attack you looses a bead

Cards

During the player’s turn they must use at least one card and can play all five. You have the right to "hit the air"; spend an attack card with no one in range. You must move when you play a move card, unless you can’t (surrounded in a corner)

At end of the player’s turn they draw up to 2 cards, so they have a maximum of 5 in their hand

Winning

Game is over after you played the deck twice (you play the deck and then the discard pile)

What Miniatures Gaming is All About:

This quote was taken from a brilliant post by John Paul on the THW yahoo group.This is exactly what this hobby is all about!

The first time a new kid comes to game:

What? There's no screen? How do you... You mean I have to face my opponent and even have to talk to them. (You got a nice house here.)Heh.... What's that? Dice? How quaint. (Sure, I'll take a Coke.) Coollittle figures. You know, I've heard about army men from movies... YOU PAINT THEM YOURSELF?! (You do a good job, I could never do that.) Nice dollhouses. Hey, can I bring my Hot Wheels?

No No Go left!I think we should run through the house. (Yea, my teacher said the same thing in my class. Who do you have?) Cool, I want to loot the body... YEA! I got a shotgun. (I'd say the scene with Shelob was the scariest.) Wow, I almost died. Thanks for saving me. Why are you laughing. No, You can't have my shotgun. I guess with that pistol aimed at my face, you are going to get that shotgun. Just watch your back. (Well, my favorite show is in an hour, but I can record it. No, I'll stay.) How come we shoot the zombies up and we always get more and Jake is beating them with a baseball bat and he gets none? (Stop throwing popcorn at me...Steve...[giggle]...Don't do it Steve... [giggle-haahaaa]) Is that a grenade? OOOHH. How did I know you werein the explosion's spread.... Do I have enough room to scoot over and pick up the shotgun from his mangled body? How many more zombies did that bring in? (You got great parents. I didn't know you could play this with them.) Awesome. I just became zombie chow!

Well, that was cool! er... do you... when do you play this again? (You guys are cool to hang around with.)Can I get one of those miniatures with a shotgun.I love shotguns! Can you paint it for me? You'll show me how to paint it? Cool!

What really happens to youth when they venture forth from Video Games andget sucked into the dark vortex of wargaming. : )

John Paul

About Me

I figured it was time to change my profile as I have completely evolved as a gamer the past couple of years. I no longer describe myself as "avid" but just plain sick. Ever since getting into skirmish gaming things in my miniatures world have been just plain awesome. Glancing through my blog you will quickly figure out that I love it all; any period, any scale, and there is no telling what you will find here from day to day. My kids and their friends like to play and even my Wife will game from time to time which is kind of the ultimate achievement for any gamer. I'm blessed with fellow gamers in the Houston area which are as fanatic as myself and our biggest problem is not when we will play, but what we will play. You can find me knocking about many miniatures related sites around the web as Veloci, Sturmflieger, or LTL Dad.